Category: Professor's Classroom

Now would be a good time for the old professor to interject some history into the news of the riots….what better time to learn some history if you are staying indoors….

There have been many riots over the years here in the good old USA….Haymarket, Watts, Tulsa, Detroit and so forth….let’s put them into context…..

The Haymarket Riot kicked off on May 4, 1886, after a bomb thrown from the crowd exploded in front of a squadron of policemen. All in all, 11 people died, making the Haymarket Riot one of the least deadly riots in American history.

You read that correctly. The infamous labor riot at Haymarket Square in Chicago was one of the least deadly riots in American history. But if the famous Haymarket Riot of the late 19th century doesn’t even come close to cracking the Top 10, which riots do, and why are they so much bloodier than the more famous labor clashes?

The answer is this: Race riots have been deadlier, and they have been the bane of America’s social stability since the 13 original states federated. In fact, institutionalized racism has been a horrific burden on the otherwise extraordinary case of the United States as an experiment in self-governance.

Adding to the race riots are clashes between nativist groups and immigrants. Race and immigration easily trump organized labor’s struggles when it comes to mob violence in the United States, and without further ado, here are the 10 deadliest riots in American history.

One “famous” riot that was left out of the list was the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943…..may not have been all that deadly but it did pit one ethnic group against the US Navy…..

The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of violent clashes during which mobs of U.S. servicemen, off-duty police officers and civilians brawled with young Latinos and other minorities in Los Angeles. The June 1943 riots took their name from the baggy suits worn by many minority youths during that era, but the violence was more about racial tension than fashion.

American society has been once again awaken from the Dream by protests……and as normal it is because a black person has been killed by the police.

I am sure there are a wealth of opinions on why and most of them are out of the mouths of white people who have no idea on what it is truly all about.

So is it riot or resistance?

Let’s be honest…..your opinion will be formed by what you see and hear in the news….so basically the MSM decides which it will be….

The general public’s opinions about protests and the social movements behind them are formed in large part by what they read or see in the media. This gives journalists a lot of power when it comes to driving the narrative of a demonstration.

They can emphasize the disruption protests cause or echo the dog whistles of politicians that label protesters as “thugs.” But they can also remind the public that at the heart of the protests is the unjust killing of another black person. This would take the emphasis away from the destruction of the protests and toward the issues of police impunity and the effects of racism in its many forms.

Those who have rarely been the target of organized police gangsterism are once again lecturing those who have about how best to respond to it.

Be peaceful, they implore, as protesters rise up in Minneapolis and across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd. This, coming from the same people who melted down when Colin Kaepernick took a knee — a decidedly peaceful type of protest. Because apparently, when white folks say, “protest peacefully,” we mean “stop protesting.”

Of course the protests are about George Floyd’s death. Political leaders fear violence at the protests — and any destruction of property or bodily harm is, of course, worrisome — but their concerns actually demonstrate the fundamental asymmetry that the protesters are pushing back against. The state has a monopoly on legitimate violence, and it is often directed at young black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice — the list goes on. When they die, the police officers responsible too frequently face no repercussions because they are protected by the law. If the men who killed George Floyd go to prison for their actions, they will be exceptions that prove that longstanding rule.

Yet if the anger and frustration from centuries of racial oppression causes a peaceful protest to become “violent” — and most of the reported attacks have been directed against property, not people, though one man was tragically killed in Detroit — suddenly that other kind of violence becomes the dominant story so far as political leaders are concerned, a disruption to the natural order that must be corrected. The systemic racism that has led to so many black lives being cut short becomes secondary.

But it shouldn’t, because that’s the real problem America must grapple with. Otherwise, sooner or later, this will all happen again.

The most logical next question was how did the police get authorized the use of these choke holds?

Ever hear of the City of Los Angeles v Lyons?

We can lay some of the blame at the feet of SCOTUS.

Lyons brought a federal lawsuit against the city and officers who assaulted him. But that case, City of Los Angeles v. Lyons (1983), did not end well for him. Decades later, the 5-4 decision still stands as one of the greatest obstacles to civil rights lawyers challenging police brutality in cases like George Floyd’s.

Adolph Lyons was not the only man choked by a Los Angeles police officer. Between 1975 and 1980, LAPD officers used chokeholds on at least 975 occasions.

As Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in his dissenting opinion, “the city instructs its officers that use of a chokehold does not constitute deadly force.” Nevertheless, “no less than 16 persons have died following the use of a chokehold by an LAPD police officer,” 12 of whom were black men.

This whole ball of hate has been building since the video of the beating of Rodney King was posted for all to see…..and the results of the results of the police trials of the ones doing the beating.

But to worry our “president” has a plan to end these protest…..

President Trump, declaring himself a “president of law and order,” threatened Monday to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers” to American cities, claiming governors and local officials had “failed to take necessary action” to end civil unrest.

The few I refer to are those minions of Trump that run the government….these toads are sucking the life out of our democracy….

Trump still compares himself to Lincoln from time to time, albeit usually to whine about how he thinks he’s been treated so much more badly than the 16th president—you know, the one who endured a great civil war and was assassinated. But in the past, he also has tried to manufacture heroic comparisons of himself with a true wartime leader, British prime minister Winston Churchill.

Such foolish aspirations were encouraged by former UK PM Theresa May, who even engineered a 2018 dinner honoring Trump at Blenheim Palace, Churchill’s ancestral home. And according to a 2017 New York Times article, “[E]very self-selected snapshot [of Trump]— down to the squinty-eyed scowl attached to his Twitter account—features a tough-guy sourpuss. ‘Like Churchill,’ is what Mr. Trump would tell staffers when asked what look he was going for.”

The pandemic brings into light the non-voters of this nation….those that have lost all confidence in our democracy…..and 2020 could be the final nail in that coffin…..

If voter turnout is indicative of a democracy’s health, then the US is clearly ailing. Only slightly more than half of all eligible voters cast their ballots in presidential elections, which is far below the turnout seen in peer countries. While systematic voter suppression certainly plays a role in this anemic performance, millions of Americans don’t vote because they have lost faith in the system or believe that elections are rigged.

That is the disturbing finding of “The 100 Million Project: The Untold Story of American Non-Voters,” a recent John S. and James L. Knight Foundation report on research conducted to determine why so few Americans engage in the political process. Other reasons identified in the report include a real or perceived lack of knowledge about the candidates and issues, disappointment in choices, and a belief that their votes do not matter.

As precursors to possible nuclear war go, fistfights and stone throwing aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind.

But along India and China’s long, contested border, that’s exactly what has been happening for the past month, prompting President Trump on Wednesday to offer to mediate what he called a “now raging dispute” between Asia’s two major military powers.

Tensions along the 2,000 mile stretch have been high for decades, with the Indian government reporting more than 1,000 mostly minor incursions by Chinese troops between 2016-18. But hostilities have increased over the last several weeks following large Chinese troop movements into previously Indian-controlled territory.

Here’s what to know about the rising tensions between the world’s two most populous countries.

Then Donald the Orange believing that he is some sort of foreign policy genius…he has offered to mediate the two tense countries…..

US President Donald Trump intruded into the tense border standoff between China and India Wednesday with a spurious offer to mediate and even “arbitrate” “their now raging border dispute.”

Announced in a tweet, Trump’s “offer” was a provocation meant to signal to Beijing that Washington is involving itself ever more directly in Sino-Indian relations, and doing so as part of an across-the-board ratcheting up of its strategic offensive against China.

Hundreds of Chinese and Indian troops are currently arrayed against each other “eyeball to eyeball” in at least four places along their disputed border. Beijing and New Delhi have also deployed additional forces and war materiel to forward bases near the border, both to signal their resolve and to acclimatize their troops to the high-altitude Himalayan terrain.

This offer by Trump could do more damage than good…..his ideas are not in the vane of orderly policy…..

Trump needs to butt out and let professionals handle the tension and the conflict should it bloom into violence.

AJE is reporting that Chinese troops have entered into Indian lands….not looking good….

On May 5, a scuffle broke out between Indian and Chinese troops at the Pangong Tso lake, located 14,000 feet (4,270 metres) above the sea level in the Himalayan region of Ladakh.

A video shot by an Indian soldier and shared on social media showed soldiers from both nations engaged in fistfights and stone-pelting at the de facto border, known as Line of Actual Control (LAC). The incident, which continued until the next day, resulted in 11 soldiers being injured on both sides.

During the time of medical emergency…..the whole world should be of one mind…..those that can should send help to the less fortunate…..like that of Cuba (here I do not care about their politics it is about the assistance for medical emergencies…..if you want to lambast Cuba then go elsewhere to do so….thanx)

Cuba has sent doctors and nurses to 15 nations as a help for the fight against Covid-19…..

One of Cuba’s flagship programs has been state-employed medical workers. The Cuban health system has always been the pride of the communist regime and highly praised by official propaganda, becoming almost a myth at the international level. For two years, the Trump administration has tried to eliminate that “good image” of Cuban doctors, labeling the doctors and nurses as exploited workers and agents of communist indoctrination, which made countries like Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia, when their administrations became more conservative, decide to do without them in order to replace them with others more friendly to Washington.

But the coronavirus pandemic has brought about a change in the image of the Cuban regime and, through an exercise in medical diplomacy, many are the countries that have changed their discourse with the island, and now are grateful for the help given. At least 15 countries have received Cuban doctors from Havana, including Italy and the small principality of Andorra. The Generalitat of Catalonia has also requested the help of Cuban doctors, pending the decision of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health, which have to evaluate whether it responds to a real need.

Cuba even offered to help Mississippi after Katrina and their offer was ignored….I think that was a mistake.

The US could be doing this very thing…..for we have two ships, medical ships, Mercy and Comfort…..are large naval vessels that are outfitted to go anywhere and dole out medical assistance….and yet we have all but moth balled these ships.

The white-hulled, 894-foot-long ships were designed with expansive surgical, laboratory and intensive-care facilities and 12 operating rooms. When deployed, about 70 civilian mariners operate each ship, and the embarked MTF’s size is dictated by the mission and beds planned, usually for 250 to 500 patients. Each ship can support a 1,000-bed capacity by double-bunking beds if needed.

…

But neither ship came close to reaching capacity, prompting scathing headlines and social media criticism that the deployments were unnecessary and politically driven. Both New York’s and California’s governors had requested the hospital ships, and officials praised the ships’ early medical support. Stay-at-home orders resulted in fewer trauma cases and infected patients sent to the ships. “Mercy and its highly-trained medical personnel… was critical to our ability to respond in the first stages of the pandemic,” Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s office of emergency services, said in a statement.

American literary critic and essayist whose polemical articles made him a spokesman for the young radicals who came of age on the eve of World War I.

Randolph Bourne was an American intellectual journalist who flourished for a few years in the second decade of the 20th century – in the Teens, the decade that ran from 1910 to 1920. Bourne wrote mostly for magazines during this period. His byline was particularly familiar to readers of The New Republic – until his radically antiwar views on the eve of the US government’s intervention in World War I got him fired.

He moved over to The Seven Arts, a newly launched magazine with a smaller circulation than The New Republic and one less well suited to Bourne’s particular talents and interests, since its primary focus was the arts, rather than social and political issues. He was able to publish only six antiwar articles in The Seven Arts before its doors were closed by an owner fearful of the Wilson administration and its Sedition Act of 1918, which made it a crime to criticize the Constitution, the government, the military, or the flag.

It is the “real” Memorial Day and as a Vietnam veteran I have often wondered why all the films made about that war feature mostly white guys….Blacks came home to worse things than us whites….and no one has ever cared…..

Spike Lee will change that…..finally the story of black Vietnam veterans will be told.

When Dedan Kimathi Ji Jaga returned from combat in Vietnam, he painted his walls black, covered his windows and sat in darkness all day. His injuries and post-traumatic stress were severe, but as with many African American soldiers in 1968, the US government gave him little support.

“They summarily released me back to the streets with no aid,” said the 72-year-old California resident.

Black veterans across America are hoping this painful and enduring legacy will get the attention it deserves in Spike Lee’s new film, Da 5 Bloods, which chronicles the journey of four African American vets who return to Vietnam in search of their fallen squad leader and buried gold.

“The plight of African American service members who served in Vietnam, where they are now, why they are the way they are, this should be brought to light,” said Richard D Kingsberry, a veteran in Charlotte, North Carolina, who began his service in 1972 in the navy. “A lot of African American service members never got cared for properly after they returned, and that is a life-altering impact.”